


A Few Minutes Peace

by PockySquirrel



Category: Power Rangers R.P.M.
Genre: Ensemble Cast, F/F, Families of Choice, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-08
Updated: 2013-09-08
Packaged: 2017-12-25 23:04:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/958662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PockySquirrel/pseuds/PockySquirrel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't easy to conduct a semi-secret relationship when you're living in a garage with six other people. Five times Gemma and Dr. K kicked the other Rangers out to get some privacy, and one time that they didn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Few Minutes Peace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Angel_Negra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Negra/gifts).



> Many thanks to TheSecondBatgirl for beta-ing, and to A-Chan for reminding me just what the hell the name of Dillon's car was.

**1. ******

Flynn walked into the lab to find the girls hunkered over the half-assembled shell of some device or another, speaking in hushed tones. His gearhead curiosity piqued, he ambled toward them to check it out. 

“What are you doing?” he asked. 

Gemma lifted her safety goggles and grinned sunshine. “Science!”

Dr. K, as usual, did not smile. 

“It’s a subatomic adaptive capacitor. If it works, it will allow you to more efficiently channel the energy from your biofields into your weapons systems,” she explained.

“So it’s less power and more BOOM!” Gemma added. 

“Sounds good to me,” Flynn replied. “Can I help?”

Dr. K regarded him with the type of annoyance one might reserve for a gopher that had wandered into her garden and started chewing up all the vegetables. “No.”

Flynn pouted, a tactic that rarely worked on Dr. K but that he frequently found effective with Gemma. “Why not?”

“Because this is advanced particle physics, Ranger Blue, _not_ nuts and bolts. While your offer to assist is appreciated, it is neither desired, nor necessary. Now, please leave before you break something important.”

“I don’t think that’s very fair,” Flynn said with an indignant huff, reaching a hand toward the harmless-looking little machine. “Just because I’m not as educated as the two of you doesn’t mean I can’t – “

Gemma cringed as he made to pick up the device. “Flynn, no, don’t touch the-!”

The explosion that followed singed off both of Flynn’s eyebrows and set back progress on the capacitor by a week and a half. Dr. K changed the passcodes on her lab again, but that was hardly necessary. Flynn had already learned his lesson. 

**2.**

Ziggy had been pestering Dr. K to go out with him for the better part of a week. After the unfortunate events of Dr. K’s birthday, he had made it something of a personal mission to get a second chance at escorting her out into the world, hopefully without courting disaster this time. She had thus far rebuffed his every attempt, but Ziggy was nothing if not persistent. Nevertheless, he seemed to be getting nowhere. 

Which is why, when Gemma extended the same invitation and Dr. K immediately accepted, Ziggy responded with an immediate and quite vocal protest. 

“What gives?” he complained. “Okay, no, I already know the answer to that. But I don’t think it’s very fair of you to throw out all the work I’ve done on actually having a decent relationship with you just because I accidentally teleported us into that cave. And _furthermore_ \--“

“Ranger Green,” Dr. K interrupted him, firmly but patiently. “You are making an incorrect assumption that my decision to leave the base with Gemma is at all related to my opinion of you. It is not.”

That seemed to immediately take the steam out of Ziggy’s engine. “It isn’t?”

“Not at all. Although there is more than enough data to support my opinion of which one of you makes a more effective protector, that data currently has no bearing on my decision-making process. The simple fact is that going out with Gemma affords me certain benefits that going out with you does not.”

Her point made and the matter closed, Dr. K would brook no further argument. She ignored Ziggy’s continued stammering and walked outside with her preferred escort skipping along beside her. 

**3.**

It had been a very long day. First the Fury started having engine trouble. Dillon had spent the better part of the morning trying to repair it, and periodically enduring Scott’s irritatingly smug face and wiseass comments at the expense of his beloved vehicle. Then there had been a Grinder attack. And of course, where there were Grinders, there was usually an Attack Bot, and this one had been a pretty persistent Attack Bot. There was a protracted Zord battle during which several different Megazord combinations were attempted and the Tiger Jet was shot out of the sky. Gemma’s injuries were fortunately minor – nothing a couple hours of biofield stimulation to accelerate her healing process couldn’t cure – but her Zord was going to be out of commission for at least a couple of days. Once the Attack Bot had finally been dispatched, Colonel Truman had seen fit to scold all of them for allowing an unacceptable amount of damage to the city. So now Gemma was hurt, Scott was cranky, and the rest of them were exhausted. 

And the icing on the cake? Today was Scan Day. 

Dr. K made Dillon come to the lab on a bi-weekly basis for a full-body scan to track the advancement of Venjix’s cybernetic virulence as it slowly but steadily crept through him. The process never failed to set his teeth on edge. Partially because it was tedious, partially because there were usually at least half a dozen other things he’d rather be doing, and partially because he just didn’t want to know. He already knew he was a walking time bomb; he really didn’t care for being reminded of it. Usually he tried to put it off for as long as he could get away with. But today? Today his car was broken and trying to dodge Dr. K without leaving the garage was more effort than he cared to expend. It wasn’t like the day could get much worse at this point. Better to get the scan over with and be done with it. 

When he walked into the lab, Dr. K didn’t immediately notice him. She had her back to the door and her attention on Gemma, attaching a biofield stimulator to the Silver Ranger’s injured arm and speaking to her in soft tones. Gemma, for her part, was as quiet and still as Dillon had ever seen. 

Feeling vaguely awkward, Dillon announced himself by clearing his throat loudly. 

Dr. K, weirdly enough, looked surprised to see him. “Ranger Black. What are you doing here?”

That was even weirder. She was always the one harping on him about how important the scans were, had she actually forgotten that he was due for one? Part of him wanted to take advantage of this apparent lapse, but a greater part of him was curious. And, though he’d never admit it, a little concerned by her odd behavior. 

“It’s, um. Time for my scan.” 

Dr. K’s brow furrowed momentarily before her expression settled back into its usual neutral state. “So it is. While I appreciate your conscientiousness, under current circumstances I believe it would be better if we postponed the scan.”

For someone who so rarely demonstrated emotion, Dr. K didn’t have much of a poker face. Dillon raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued. “It’s not like you to let me off the hook so easily.”

Dr. K was starting to look distinctly flustered. “That is true. It is also true that I usually don’t have an injured operator and a damaged Zord to attend to. The scan can wait. Go get some rest.”

That’s when Dillon noticed that Dr. K’s hand – the one that hadn’t been adjusting the biofield stimulator – was entwined with Gemma’s, touching in a way that he had certainly never seen Dr. K deign to touch any of the rest of them. He smirked as he put the pieces together.

“I see,” he said. And unable to resist teasing her a bit, added in a meaningful tone, “I’ll just leave the two of you alone, then.”

It was instantly apparent to Dr. K that she had been found out, and she blushed. “Thank you, Ranger Black,” she replied, her tone clipped but genuinely appreciative. 

Dillon nodded in reply and took his leave, turning this new information over in his mind. Gemma and Dr. K? He was hard pressed to think of a stranger couple. The idea of Dr. K romantically involved with anyone was just downright bizarre. Then again, Dillon’s was the sort of life that involved using a giant googly-eyed wolf-car to fight homicidal robots that he was partially related to. Bizarre was par for the course.

If it made them happy – and spared him a bio-scan – who was he to judge?

**4.**

Gem couldn’t find his sister, and that was unusual. Most of the time, they were together, and on those rare occasions that they weren’t, they each always knew where to find the other. It was easy enough to do. They were twins, after all. Their brains were totally in sync. 

Which is why having no idea where Gemma had gone was not only puzzling, but distressing. 

Since he hadn’t seen her leave, a systematic search of the garage seemed the logical thing to do. He didn’t find Gemma in the common area, or the kitchen, or in her room. She wasn’t in any of the other bedrooms either, and checking earned him a weird look from Scott and got him snapped at by Dillon. People just didn’t go in Dillon’s room, after all. He’d heard Ziggy say once or twice that it was because Dillon’s room was actually a portal to the underworld, but there didn’t seem to be any evidence of that. Oh well. 

Having found no sign of Gemma or the purported portal in Dillon’s room, Gem checked the lab next. Nothing. Strangely enough, Dr. K didn’t seem to be around either, but that seemed slightly less important to Gem’s mind. He was now officially worried, and running out of ideas as to where Gemma might have gone. 

There _was_ still Dr. K’s bedroom to check, although that seemed unlikely. The little room hidden behind the back wall of the lab was even more off-limits than Dillon’s room. Not because of any portals to the underworld, but because Dr. K was fiercely protective of her privacy and one never knew where she might have strategically hidden a laser to defend it. In fact, Gem wasn’t even certain if the other Rangers knew that Dr. K’s room existed. He suspected they just assumed she slept in the lab somewhere, since that was where she spent most of her time anyway. 

The door was locked. That wasn’t a surprise, really. He ended up having to hack the door’s passcode, and that proved to be a bit difficult, even for him. But he _was_ able to get the door open, after a few attempts. He immediately stuck his head inside to find out what was going on. 

The good news was, he had finally found Gemma. Apart from that, though, hacking his way into Dr. K’s room had probably been a pretty huge mistake. 

Gem froze. Gemma and Dr. K froze as well, the three of them staring at one another in mutual horror. The girls were both in Dr. K’s bed. Dr. K was lying on her back, face flushed, shirt half unbuttoned. Gemma was straddling her hips, sitting up and caught awkwardly midway through the process of removing her own top. Her jacket and Dr. K’s lab coat had already been tossed onto the floor. 

Dr. K let out a mortified squeak, face turning an interesting shade of pink, and Gem just sort of stood there as if the shock of finding his sister in a compromising position with his best friend had abruptly shut down all of his higher brain functions. 

Gemma was the first one to recover and take action. She seized the nearest pillow, flung it directly at her brother’s head, and shrieked “KNOCK FIRST!”

Gem took the hint and fled. 

**5.**

It had been a solid week since the last Venjix attack, and Gemma was bored. Gemma got ideas when she was bored. The last time she had gone this long without blowing something up, she had gotten the idea that the common room needed more color and started painting rainbows all over the walls. So when she declared that Friday night was now officially Girls’ Night, it seemed tame by comparison. 

She spent the entire day planning and preparing, and both Summer and Dr. K were entirely at her mercy. She dragged a bunch of blankets and pillows into her bedroom, ordered Summer to go out and buy snacks, and badgered Dr. K into setting up some kind of jury-rigged home theater system so they could watch movies. The male Rangers watched in amusement over dinner as Gemma rattled off her agenda for the evening to her bewildered friends, an agenda which involved Truth or Dare, makeovers, and at least one pillow fight.

“What if I am not interested in a makeover?” Dr. K asked, sounding almost plaintive.

Gemma grinned at her brightly. “Tough!”

The Silver Ranger herded both other women into her room as soon as dinner was over, informing her other teammates that there were no boys allowed at Girls’ Night and they were not to be disturbed for anything short of a Venjix attack. The male Rangers, relieved to have been spared from one of Gemma’s wacky plans for once, were more than happy to comply. 

A few hours later, Ziggy was schooling Flynn, Gem, and Scott at poker while Dillon was elbow-deep in the Fury’s transmission and ignoring all of them. Summer re-emerged from Gemma’s room and asked if she could join the game. 

“I’m surprised Gemma let you escape Girls’ Night,” Scott commented as Ziggy shuffled the cards to deal her in. 

Summer gave an awkward shrug. “Well, Girls’ Night sort of started turning into Date Night and I didn’t want to be a third wheel. I don’t even think they noticed I’m gone.”

The cards exploded out of Ziggy’s hands and flew everywhere. “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Date night. You just said date night. As in, _dating_? As in, Gemma and Dr. K are… _dating_?” He looked around the table from one Ranger to the next, taking in everyone else’s lack of reaction. “Did we _know_ about this?!”

Everyone was momentarily quiet before Scott spoke up. “I didn’t _know_ , exactly. But I kind of suspected.”

Summer nodded. “They never said anything, but they are kind of obvious about it sometimes…”

“Gemma told me after I asked her out,” Flynn admitted. “She wasn’t supposed to, Dr. K doesn’t really want people knowing about it, but she didn’t want me to feel bad that she turned me down.”

“You guys don’t want to know how I found out,” Gem added, looking uncharacteristically disturbed. 

“Even I knew that the two of them were a thing,” Dillon’s voice chimed in from underneath his car. 

Ziggy sat in dumbfounded silence, processing what he had just heard. “Well,” he finally said. “That would certainly explain why she didn’t want to go out with me.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Zig,” Dillon replied. 

**+1**

It was getting late, and the garage was finally and uncharacteristically quiet. All of Corinth had erupted into celebration at the destruction of Venjix, and there were surely parts of the city where the celebration was still in full swing, but the Rangers themselves had eventually, reluctantly, succumbed to fatigue once the adrenaline high of their victory had worn off. Scott strongly suspected he was the last one up. He felt pretty beat himself, but knowing that this would most likely be his last night in the garage, he couldn’t bring himself to go to bed without having one more look around. 

He walked through the building slowly, retracing steps he’d taken hundreds of times before, drinking in all the little details. The meticulously arranged tools in the lab, everything in its right place. Gem and Gemma’s crayon drawings, stuck to the fridge. The long-suffering blender Flynn used to make his smoothies. The pool table. Dillon’s ridiculous old tin can of a car. 

He wondered when exactly he had started thinking of this place as his home, or of the other Rangers as his family. 

As he walked back through the common area, finally en route to his room, he found that while he was indeed the only one awake in the garage, not everyone had made it to their beds. Gemma and Dr. K were fast asleep on the couch. Dr. K was holding onto Gemma like a stuffed animal, her head pillowed on the Silver Ranger’s chest, while Gemma had an arm wrapped protectively around Dr. K’s waist. 

Scott paused, wondering if he should wake them and get them to go sleep someplace a bit more comfortable or if he should simply leave them undisturbed. He quickly decided on the latter. They certainly looked comfortable enough where they were. And it was strangely nice, getting to see them like this, finally in a state of well-earned peace. Gemma, neither the human wrecking ball nor the joyful child she so often appeared to be, looking nothing like the weapon Alphabet Soup had made of her. And Dr. K, the child prodigy who had both destroyed and saved the world, for the moment unencumbered by the burden of her guilt. In sleep, she looked shockingly young. 

That Dr. K felt safe letting her guard down enough for this to happen was, well, heartwarming. Scott wasn’t usually the sentimental type, but hey. After everything she had been through, Dr. K deserved this. She and Gemma both did, really. He was happy for them. They were safe now. They were safe, they had won and they had each other, and nothing else mattered anymore. 

Scott slipped away to retrieve a blanket from one of the closets, brought it back and carefully covered them both. Dr. K burrowed underneath the blanket reflexively, and a faint smile touched Gemma’s lips. Scott smiled in return, and paused to turn out the lights as he headed for his room.


End file.
